Mac Allister Strikes Late to Get Liverpool’s Champions League Campaign Up and Running
Our take on Liverpool’s opening Champions League night of the season is that Andoni Iraola will not care in the slightest how scrappy it looked. A 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid at Anfield gave the head coach his first home victory since taking over from Arne Slot in the summer, and his first triumph in this competition, with Alexis Mac Allister once again the man who made the difference when it mattered most.
A Familiar Pattern Liverpool Need to Break
There is a theme developing under the new head coach that will not have gone unnoticed inside Anfield. This was the third time in four matches that Liverpool have shipped the opening goal, and on this occasion the culprit was a defensive mix up between Milos Kerkez and the rest of the back line, which allowed Marcos Llorente to run beyond him and finish off Julian Alvarez’s pass. Llorente scoring against Liverpool at Anfield is becoming something of a running joke among Atletico supporters. He struck twice there back in 2020 when Diego Simeone’s side eliminated Liverpool from this same competition, a night so memorable to him that he reportedly named his pet dog after the stadium. Five of his ten career Champions League goals have now arrived on this ground, which says plenty about how often Liverpool have been opened up in the same way over the years. It is not a stat Iraola will want repeated, and if this Liverpool side wants to be taken seriously in Europe, slow starts like this one cannot become the norm.
Szoboszlai Levels, Barcola Wastes a Chance, Then Mac Allister Delivers
To Liverpool’s credit, the response before half time was excellent. Dominik Szoboszlai continued his fine start to the season by dragging his side level, giving Iraola’s team the chance to reset at the break rather than chase the game from behind for another 45 minutes. The second half brought its own drama. Bradley Barcola, given his first start for the club since arriving from Paris Saint-Germain for a fee in the region of £123m, should have put Liverpool ahead when a clear sight of goal fell his way, but the winger dragged his effort wide when it looked easier to score. It threatened to be a costly miss. Instead, within a minute, Mac Allister picked up possession on the edge of the box and drove a low finish beyond Jan Oblak to send Anfield into raptures and turn the contest firmly in Liverpool’s favour.
The Contract Talk That Refused to Go Away
Much of the build-up to this fixture had nothing to do with Atletico Madrid at all. Mac Allister’s press conference on Tuesday dominated the agenda after the Argentine admitted he felt “sad” that Liverpool had not moved to offer him a new deal over the summer, despite his current contract running until 2028. It created an entirely avoidable subplot heading into a game that should have been about the football. In our view, Mac Allister answered every question in the only way that matters, with a display that both settled the midfield and produced the winning goal. Whatever conversations are happening behind the scenes about his long term future, performances like this one make it very difficult for Liverpool to consider letting him leave any time soon.
Our Verdict on a Night That Mattered
Liverpool remain unbeaten in four matches under Iraola, with two Premier League draws and a league win now followed by a first Champions League victory of the campaign. The concerning part is obvious: this side keeps finding itself behind before it has really got going, and against sharper continental opposition than Atletico, that habit could easily prove fatal. The encouraging part is just as obvious. Kerkez responded well after his mistake, Araújo produced a clever assist for the equaliser, Szoboszlai continues to look like one of the signings of the summer, and Mac Allister showed exactly why Liverpool should be building around him rather than debating his future. Perfect performances are rare in the Champions League. What matters more is finding a way to win when things are not going smoothly, and on that measure, Iraola passed his first European test at Anfield. Liverpool now turn back to domestic matters before returning to continental action away at LASK on 14 October.